Monday, September 29, 2008

Lincecum Makes Final Pitch for Cy Young

The 2008 Major League Baseball season came to an end Sunday, and the Giants went off in style with Tim Lincecum throwing one more gem in a final effort to boost his Cy Young chances. The new face of the Giants' franchise posted his 18th win of the season by going 7 strong innings and striking out 13 batters and allowing only one run while defeating the Diamondbacks. His 265 strikeouts this season are the most by a Giant since I've been following them (early 90's and too lazy to luck up official historical stats) but I'd say that would be a Giants record as well. I posted my early final season awards here, and I think I am going to have to stick by the Lincecum pick for Cy Young, even with Johan Santana's late surge. Santana has Timmy in era, but that's it and I can't help but think that if Lincecum were pitching in with the Mets offense and defense behind him, he'd have won 20 games easy. The writers will likely choose Brandon Webb because of the fact that he won 22 games, but common, for the first month and a half, the guy was getting close to 7 runs a game as support. Lincecum was the most dominant starter in the NL this season and his final start once again proved it.

Lincecum's dominant start wasn't the only bright spot the Giants got on the final day of the '08 campaign. Kevin Frandsen, the man who was supposed to be the everyday second baseman this season, made got into a game and got an at-bat in what was thought to be a lost season for him. All he did was ground out, but the mere fact that he got on the field of play, albeit a small sample, this season will help him out going into next spring. I said last post that one of the spots that is unsettled for the team at the moment is second base and if Frandsen can go have a monster fall league and come back strong in the spring, that job should be his. He led the team in hitting over the final 2 months of the '07 season so expectations should still be there for the 26 year-old infielder. Eugenio Velez's .337 batting average over the season's last 2 months might put him in the mix as well, but he should be back as one of the Giants primary utility guys. Emmanuel Burris also received some time there this year, but the Giants are leaning toward molding him into the shortstop of the future.

I will be posting a full season review within the next few days as I get all my thoughts together on what was a very strange but predicting 2008 Giants season. Before ended this post though, I wanted to give my opinion on who should win the Willie McCovey Award (given to the most inspirational Giants) which is voted on by the team. Last year Bengie Molina got it and even though he probably deserves it again, I would have to go with Lincecum again on this one. Take him away from the Giants and they are a mess; he really was the guy who lit the fire for them this year and he should be rewarded.

Good stuff, man. One thing though. Lincecum is just barely second all-time on the Giants season strikeouts leaderboard (Christy Mathewson had 267, Lincecum ended up with 265), at least in the modern (1900-present) era. A whole bunch of other guys ended up with more, but they were in the 1800s.

Still a phenomenal season for Lincecum. I would give him the slight edge for Cy Young over Santana.

Tim Lincecum was (by far) the best pitcher from the very start. 265 strikeouts, a 262 ERA, and 18 wins with a ball club who ended up with only won 72 games this season. That's 1/4 of their wins!

Santana had a fantastic year. So did Sabathia (at least for the NL). However, both of them started very slow (whether they started in the AL or NL). As always, Johan did not disappoint, but like always, he didn't do as good as people normally think he does in April and May...

CC? That 13.50 ERA in his first 4 starts killed his chances for Cy Young this year. Just think, excluding those four starts, he would've had a 1.88 ERA with a 17-7 record, 10 complete games, 5 shutouts, and 237 K's, and only 45 walks! That's pretty darn good in my, and probably everyone else's book... no matter what team you're on.

However, IMO, you still have to include those first 4 games of the season for CC, regardless of whether he played for the Brewers or not.Licecum for Cy Young, baby! This kid has so much potential that I could see him lead a team into the postseason one day... along with a lineup that has somewhat of a better offense...

He did a great job this year but Brandon Webb won 22(1st 9)games this year. Lincecum had a great year but should not have been the Cy Young. Also, you would think with the money he makes, he could afford braces on those messed up teeth.